Yesterday's conviction of Down footballer James McCartan for breaking a Westmeath opponent's jaw just about sums up the trials and tribulations that have beset the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) over the past year.
In itself the decision of the Dublin District Court didn't break new ground; a number of such incidents have ended up in the courts in recent times. Yet this was undoubtedly the highest-profile case, emerging as it did from a senior inter-county match and concerning one of the game's most celebrated players, a member of a famous footballing family.
Aside from the embarrassment caused by such an incident receiving a very full and public airing, there are matters on which the GAA can usefully reflect. It is further evidence of the difficulties the association is experiencing in the courts. Whereas most of them arise from civil litigation, there is reason to believe that the current case would not have proceeded to the courts had it been appropriately dealt with by the Croke Park authorities.
A series of unedifying controversies arose this summer to pockmark the championship season which concluded last month. They chiefly centred on acts of indiscipline receiving inadequate censure from the GAA's own Games Administration Committee (GAC). Given that these breaches of discipline took place in elite competition before large television audiences, it was hardly surprising that an air of lawlessness was created as foul play was seen to go unpunished.
That this should happen was disturbing for the GAA. The association appeared to have turned a corner in relation to dealing with these matters during the term of office of its previous GAC, simply by evolving a consistently-applied policy of taking action against foul play. But worse was to come when the club championship season that followed over the past two months featured several outbreaks of violence, which received prominent media coverage. It has been all too depressingly plausible to make the connection between the litany of inadequately punished fouls at inter-county level and the air of reckless disregard for the rules that pervaded the games this autumn.
Moves are afoot to reform the GAC and its disciplinary function. The report and recommendations of a sub-committee appointed to investigate the whole area will be debated at next April's annual GAA congress. The events of recent months and yesterday's verdict demonstrate the absolute urgency of getting these reforms right and implementing them quickly.